Speakers, Topics, & Times!

The 2017 Tele Summit FREE Release Revealed

Part 2

To go directly to the full list of speakers, scroll down below the write-ups.

The 2017 Healing with Horse Tele Summit extends from Wednesday February 15th to March 10th. To celebrate the Fifth Anniversary of the Tele Summit, and thanks to the incredible generosity within the collective of people who team with horses for healing and thriving work, we have double the standard number of speakers, with 20 amazing talks and 23 speakers this year! While no one talk is alike, a theme began to form this year, and so interwoven through the various talks you will hear issues related to the SENTIENCE of horses discussed.

PART 1 of this blog post summarizes the first 10 talks, from Koelle Simpson on the Equus Coaching Approach on Wednesday, February 15th to equine massage bodyworker Barbara Breckenfeld, whose talk will go live on Saturday, February 25th.

This post covers the talks to go live from Monday Feb 27th to Friday, March 10th. And so we begin Monday Feb 27th with Lynn Thomas and Mark Lytle of EAGALA. You may know that Lynn and Mark co-wrote the highly illustrative, informative, and wise book, Transforming Therapy Through Horses: Case Stories Teaching the EAGALA Model in Action, published in 2016. This very readable book can serve many practitioners whether you are practicing the EAGALA model or not, and uses Mark’s highly popular and riveting storytelling skills with President and cofounder Lynn’s clear and nuanced understanding of how the model serves clients when facilitators become more and more skilled. This talk, called “EAGALA, Journey of the Practice & Introducing the 2017 New Training Structure,” follows the same idea. Mark shares stories and the two of them then explain the EAGALA model’s central tenets through the stories. Fittingly enough according to the talk title, they also discuss the new training model EAGALA will be launching just this month, which is a completely revamped structure that was piloted last year. You won’t want to miss this talk, and bring your coffee mug, as Mark is literally sitting at a coffee shop as we recorded due to a snowstorm taking out his internet back at the farm!

Tuesday Feb 28th brings EAGALA and PATH Int’l. certified practitioner Alejandra Laraof Park City, Utah. In this very informative talk about working with the military in EAP sessions, Alejandra responds to requests after her 2016 Tele Summit talk that she focus on this population. Alejandra works with military groups that come from a number of different military programs, many referral sources, and from different types of treatment. Alejandra helps you know where to look for the pipelines of military personnel for whom equine work is being sought. She notes the trends she has seen in this population and their exposure to work with horses in her 7 years of working with them, and she informs us of the central most important quality that people from the military, no matter what their clinical diagnosis, most need and benefit from, no matter what equine facilitated or assisted type of practice you offer. A powerful and information-rich talk.

Then on Wednesday, March 1st, Michelle Hollings-Brooks, another long-term practitioner who has cross-trained in a number of models and approaches, offers a talk from therapy’s attachment-theory perspective called “Developing Secure Attachments with Our Horses & Clients.” In this talk, Michelle defines attachment theory and applies its wisdom to our equine work. As horses are sentient beings, she says, they need to know just how much you have their back when they engage with clients who are emotionally imbalanced and who often require the horses’ most adept skills at modeling healthy emotions and relationships. In developing healthy attachments with the horses you work with, you will also provide a healthy model for your clients.

The Equine Experiential Education Association, or E3A, model is the topic of discussion Thursday March 2nd, with former E3A president Ginny Telego. If you’re looking for a way to get started that focuses on a coaching rather than a therapy model, the E3A model may be for you. And if you already have a practice but are looking for a consistent model that is based upon tried and true experiential education research, this is the call you will not want to miss. Ginny is as organized, clear, and confident as you will be as an E3A practitioner. A lovely, informative talk about a model that allows the magic to happen for the clients, without the mystery of what to do, for the facilitator.

Friday, March 3rd brings a little twist in the structure you’ve come to expect, as Tele Summit speaker, social entrepreneur, and highly intelligent horsewoman Jini Patel Thompson interviews me, Diedre West, rather than the other way around! In this talk, “It’s All About How You Look At It: Equine Assisted Practice and the Facilitator’s Space” Jini brings concerns for the horses that came from people who are horse lovers, and/or who have trained or participated as clients in EAP/L. Central to the concerns seems to be something other than a skillset that facilitators must hone as they become more practiced, and that is how the facilitator’s role honors everyone involved, from client to horse to facilitator to environment, so that all thrive and no one is “used” or “used up.” In that witnessing space, horses are honored and energized, as well as facilitators and clients. Examples are played out and explored. Other topics are the spaces we use for sessions and ways to lay those out to most empower the horses, as well as some horse care thoughts for different types of care settings.

Week 3 of the Tele Summit closes on Saturday, March 4th with Energy Healer and Reiki Master Pam Allen LeBlanc, who speaks about energy healing for horses and humans. Pam’s energy work brings a felt change to a system, as she has developed her self and her work for close to two decades. In this talk, Pam discusses trends she has witnessed in the energetic space we humans and horses have worked in for the past decade, how teaming with horses in EAP/L can affect horses and finally, how to spot indications a horse might need some support in clearing negative or “sticky” energy. Pam also talks about the evolution of Reiki in this powerful and paradigm-shifting time we all live in. As if that is not enough, Pam offers experiential exercises you can use to boost your intuition during sessions and to get clarity about your horses’ needs. An invaluable talk that summarizes material from her December 2015 talk on energetic clearing for horses, and covers much about what we facilitators and horse owners may be seeking for our horses and ourselves.

THE FINAL WEEK of the Tele Summit opens with Path Int’l practitioner and trainer, as well as generous leader in the field, Trish Broersma. Trish shares the secrets of her remarkable success with programs that support the community, such as her Riding Beyond program for women cancer survivors. And if you haven’t been taking notes before now, you’ll want to start with this session!…as Trish outlines a mind-boggling set of steps and useful strategies to brainstorm, build community support and backing, and launch an equine program that puts service for those in need as its top priority. Such a program comes with its own rewards, and also builds a community of support for you, your facility, your horses, and your program, shifting it from a place and some horses to an integral, and communally-shared space in your community. Packed with fascinating research about social movements, tipping points, chaos theory, collaborative program planning, volunteer recruitment and training, and growing and sustaining service and community-supported equine facilitated programs, you will not want to miss the advice you’ll be referring back to years into your own such program.

This final week continues on Tuesday, March 7th with a talk that outlines the way our field is shaping through the types of trainings and processes of certifying professionals to facilitate and team with horses. Two women who have done exhaustive research on this topic, Debbie Anderson and Blair McKissock, share their findings in this session, “Training Programs: Where To Begin…And Where To Go From There.” Debbie and Blair begin by discussing the organic process of growth that the program at which they are founder and employee, Strides to Success, has undergone over the years. Wonder over the number of skillsets entrepreneurs and practitioners in this field require, and learn how practice and training meet. Also discussed are ways to sort out the various training options and criteria by which we might establish what we are looking for. This is yet another information-packed talk to get you empowered to seek what you most need, and to know about and use tools available that help you sort through the various trainings in order to answer your unique interests and training needs most fully.

Shelley Rosenberg comes to us on Wednesday, March 8th, to speak about something few people can achieve at this stage in our still-young field of work, and that is making a full-time career out of your Equine Facilitated/Assisted/Guided practice. Shelley comes from a background as a professional competition rider and trainer, and in this session, she shares advice from her life experience of building a full-time career, not as a trainer or rider, but as those identities, and more–all is key, not one or another. Among the topics Shelley discusses are how to get training and practice—and what investment(s)—of time and other resources—you will want to consider. She delves into the challenges inherent in building a career where there is no well-traveled vocational path, ways to get started after your training, how to build once you get a start, and how to blend dream experiences into a road map so your unique vocation becomes your dream job. There are many nuggets of practical advice, ideas you an try, and a realistic perspective of what it can take to make your practice full time.

THE FINAL SESSION of the Tele Summit comes from intuitive and equine-influenced spirit channel Jess Campmans on Thursday March 9th. Jess’ topic, “Becoming That Which You Are Called To Do: A Study In Sentience,” is part personal journey and part channeled wisdom, mixed with a couple of guided meditations to get you really feeling into and integrating all that you’ve learned about equine sentience, about our own human sentience, and how our souls are organized to find particular destinies. This talk serves as a capstone and integration of much of the learning of the 4 weeks and will leave you both inspired and open to what is next for you in your personal journey.

And…what about March 10? If you were around for last year’s Tele Summit, you know what Friday, March 10 holds. For now, I’ll leave the event, and the story behind it, for a future carpet unrolling.

This 20-session Tele Summit has proven to be a massive undertaking, especially during a time of social turbulence and technical challenges (when Mercury was retrograde!). But as far back as September 2016, it began to be clear that this would be a special year for the Tele Summit. I do hope you will find many, and hopefully, all, the audio sessions answer questions; empower your own sparks and visions; cause reflection and resets where those are called for; and mostly, offer a month-long sense of global community and love, horse-herd style! I invite and encourage you to respond, ask questions, and raise discussion in blog feedback sections (more on this in the next newsletter!), and create rituals that make this time a special gift of learning and sharing within a circle of lead practitioners–a circle in which YOU are a valued, welcomed, and integral member.

And of course, you can purchase theTele Summit Set on the site so that you have permanent access to the set of 20 downloadable audio sessions. You can-pre-purchase now, but the set won’t be available for download until the first talk goes live February 15th, appropriately enough, the day after Valentines Day!

So make sure to sign up for this year’s epic Tele Summit and Celebrate your work, your journey, and your place among those dedicating themselves to teaming with horses to make the world a better place. This is your home!